After Rejection, A Preakness Win

Favored Pine Bluff Holds Off Alydeed-and Old Jockey

May 17, 1992|By Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune.

BALTIMORE — His jockey left him for another horse.

The betting public at Pimlico couldn`t understand why and made Pine Bluff the 3 1/2-1 favorite in Saturday`s 117th Preakness, seemingly also blind to the fact that he`d finished an unimpressive fifth in the Kentucky Derby.

``I was surprised and pleased,`` said Pine Bluff`s owner-breeder, John Ed Anthony. ``It does give you a certain amount of moral support. People put their money down on the horse. Maybe they knew something I didn`t know.``

Maybe they knew that Pine Bluff and his new rider, Chris McCarron, who began his brilliant career 18 years ago here in Maryland, would turn out to be a match made in horseplayers` heaven.

With 85,294 people watching, Pine Bluff won the Preakness.

He did it by coming on strong down the stretch and overtaking Alydeed, the Canadian colt for whom jockey Craig Perret had jilted him.

But, after finishing three-fourths of a length behind the winner, Perret had no regrets about his decision to abandon the winner to ride the lightly raced runner-up in the field of 14.

``We lost and we gave it our best shot,`` said Perret. ``From now on wherever Alydeed goes, he`s going to be the horse to beat. We saw a lightly raced horse display a lot of toughness. I had a horse with fire in his eyes.

``The thought never was to drop Pine Bluff. It was to pick up this horse for the Canadian Triple Crown races and go for the million-dollar bonus up there. I wanted to roll the dice with him here.

``Even if it turns out to be wrong, that`s OK. At least you`re in a position to choose.

``If I couldn`t win it, I`m glad it was Pine Bluff who won the race. Tonight I`m going to toast (trainer) Tom Bohannan for winning the Preakness, and when Alydeed wins the Belmont he`s going to be toasting me.

``Off this race they`ll have a hard time beating us. Don`t forget we beat the Kentucky Derby winner today.``

For the first time in his 10-race career, Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee ran a bad race. The second choice in the wagering finished fifth, never in contention.

Derby runner-up Casual Lies was third and Dance Floor, the show horse in the Derby, finished fourth.

There may have been an extenuating circumstance involved in the first out-of-the-money finish in Lil E. Tee`s career. A postrace examination revealed the colt had bled slightly.

``There was a trace of blood,`` said trainer Lynn Whiting. ``If we had waited 15 or 20 minutes more before scoping him, there might have been more. I`ll look him over again in the morning and make a decision about the (June 6) Belmont.``

As far as the race itself was concerned, Lil E. Tee`s jockey, Pat Day, said: ``He broke well but some horse (Dash for Dotty) jostled him in the rear end about four or five jumps out of the gate. As a consequence, we were back a little further than we wanted.

``He picked it up on his own and got into contention down the backside. At the three-eighths pole, when Alydeed and Pine Bluff moved, they ran on past him.

``I thought I could run them down in the stretch. But he couldn`t do it. He didn`t have any firepower. Maybe he used more energy cruising back into contention up the backside than I thought he did.``

The early leader was Speakerphone and he opened up daylight on his closest pursuer, Alydeed, while racing the quarter in :23 1/5 and the half in :46 1/5 on a track that was listed as ``good`` after heavy rain Friday night.

Alydeed caught Speakerphone nearing the far turn and by the stretch call had opened up a 2 1/2-length lead over Dance Floor, who`d advanced from second to third.

Meanwhile, Pine Bluff had extricated himself from early traffic problems and was in third place and gaining ground on the outside.

``He broke alertly but Big Sur came in on me and squeezed me the first 20 or 30 yards,`` said McCarron. ``I had to take hold to avoid clipping heels. After that happened the two inside horses drifted out, and I had to take a hold on him again.

``Tom had told me he was a free-running horse, and said this morning that he had all the confidence in the world in him. I got him to the outside and he ran freely all the way. I was very confident when we got to the top of the stretch.

``I looked around for Lil E. Tee and when I didn`t see him I said: `Hot-diggity dog!` It was a dynamite feeling.``

In the final furlong, Pine Bluff went by Dance Floor and wore down Alydeed to win the 1 3/16-mile second jewel of the Triple Crown in 1:55 3/5.

It was the sixth victory of Pine Bluff`s 12-race career and the third time he had outrun Lil E. Tee. Although he was the favorite, his mutuel prices were high-$9, $5.80 and $4.40.